5 Things To Expect On WWE Monday Night Raw 2/16/15

"Hey, hey, hey. What's going on here?" It's not time for save by the bell, but it's time for this week's Monday Night Raw Preview brought to you by Condo On The Moon's very own Joshua Lopez. It's the go-home show to the WWE Fast Lane PPV. Tensions continue rise as we down a hill to the last stop on the road to WrestleMania this Sunday. We've been on a roll with these previews as this columns are giving a unqiue perspective on the current WWE Creative Team and their plans for editions of Monday Night Raw. A lot of people try to find things to be mad or complain about, but here we take a look at the current storylines and if there's issues we try to turn those negativies to a positive. The American Dream Dusty Rhodes will be on the show and The Nature Boy will be on tonight's show as well. Here's five things to expect on tonight's Monday Night Raw.

1.) Daniel Bryan/Roman Reigns Fiasco 

I don't know about you guys, but I'm at the point where I could care less who wins the Daniel Bryan/Roman Reigns match. Here's a dose of reality, for those saying that the WWE holds Daniel Bryan back you don't know anything about wrestling. Little fun fact for you if a guy was being held back or buried why would WWE have Daniel Bryan compete in a title match in all of the 5 WrestleMania's he competed in. Roman Reigns is not ready, but at the end of the day who is? It's a lose lose situation for whatever type of wrestling fan you are. Don't get me wrong I like both guys and I enjoy the current storyline they're in it's the fans and the mood surrounding this feud that just gets me aggravated. People say that Daniel Bryan deserve his title run, but will people put their money where their mouth is when he's the main event of Mania and main eventing future Raw's and PPV's? Is the YES! Movement about the fans being part of the show or supporting Daniel Bryan for what he stands for? To me the YES! Chant is like the What? Chant. WWE has brought the anything you can know I could do better storyline back with Reigns & Bryan and for what it's worth it's been working so far. I enjoyed their tag team turmoil on SmackDown this past Friday night the fight they had with The Usos was awesome. Tonight will we see possibly Roman Reigns vs Kane, then Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show. You can also see Roman Reigns vs Kane & Big Show and Daniel Bryan vs Seth Rollins and J&J Security. Either way I tonight you will see Daniel Bryan seek his revenge on Roman Reigns for what happen on last week's Raw.

2.) John Cena & Rusev Program

I thought the WWE did a good job with the Rusev & John Cena storyline last week. I thought the video tribute Rusev gave to Cena last week was really funny and effective. I think what's helping this feud right now is not only because it's the perfect WWE esque storyline for both of these guys right now it's the fact that they're taking their time with this and not rushing anything. Last week on Raw we establish why this feud is happening and now it's about who will come out of Fast Lane as WWE United States Champion? Another cool thing with this feud if you will is that we don't really know what the long term plan is for both Cena & Rusev coming out of this feud. Can John Cena really become the US Champion on Sunday? Is this a one off feud? Can Cena put over Rusev? Tonight is going to be interesting because last week Rusev got the best of John Cena and his injured eye, now will the Cenation Leader get the best of the Bulgarian Brute. I think John Cena should take on Luke Harper tonight. Also what if any chance of us seeing the returning Celtic Warrior associate himself with this feud and get back the title he lost or possibly turn heel and go against the guy the left him off Team Cena at Survivor Series. I think tonight you'll probably see Rusev vs. Dolph Ziggler or Ryback.

3.) The Rhodes Family Debacle 

What's more tradition in wrestling new sites? The yearly Carlito & Shelton Benjamin apperance in the Royal Rumble? Or the Cody Rhodes vs Goldust match at WrestleMania? I think we may finally get it and what a perfect time for both of these guys. Reports are coming saying that Goldust will be hanging up the boots after Mania and what a way for him to go out against his younger brother at the grandest stage of them all. Will it be Stardust vs Goldust at FastLane then Cody Rhodes vs Goldust at WrestleMania? I'm really excited to see what goes down between The Rhodes Family on Raw tonight. I think we'll finally have a mid-card feud in-ring segments that's intruging and meaningful. What I think eventually happens is that Dusty will try to play to the crowd a little bit he'll introduce his sons and during the segment Dusty or Goldust will spit out the name Cody and either Stardust will attack Goldust to or knock down his dad and walk away.

4.) The Authority  

I found out that the legendary "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair will be on Monday Night Raw to talk to Triple H about his upcoming confrontation with the vigilante "Sting" at WWE Fast Lane. I think we'll probably see a opening in-ring promo with The Authority where they promote the ppv say it's free you know the usual The Authority stichk and then they'll address what happen on SmackDown with Big Show & Kane and also the Daniel Bryan & Roman Reigns situation. Wonder if this Authority storyline has brought unwaranted heat towards the company because let's say for the casual viewer who tunes into Raw and they see The Authority and people know that Triple H & Stephanie McMahon are actual authority figures it puts a black cloud on what we're watching because is this how they real feel about Daniel Bryan or it's a what's best for the storyline type of thing? Because you watch Raw and then you see The Authority constantly degrading Daniel Bryan and for those who are not die hard wrestling fans they can assume that's how the company feels about Bryan and the character's The Authority don't care about the fans. It's a double eged sword in this reality era, but in today's society people are so insecure and gulliable they see something on television it could be a random match on Raw and they'll believe it's a new storyline or this or that, so it's interesting to see where this Authority storyline goes and how its finishes. As far as tonight is concern I think we'll see the confrantation with Triple H & Flair and then it will be interrupted by a interesting video package from Sting that will get Triple H flustered before their confrantation at Fast Lane

5.) WWE Fast Lane Undercard 

We know that Nikki Bella will defend the WWE Diva's Championship against Paige. Tonight we'll probably see Paige vs. Brie Bella again or her against Alicia Fox and maybe this time we'll see Paige get the best of the Bella Twins. Hopefully tonight they announce that it will be The Usos vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro for the WWE Tag Team Championship. Will Dean Ambrose gets his opportunity at the Intercontinental Championship? I think we may also see Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan vs. Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show at FastLane due to what happen on Raw last week. Something else maybe for the pre-show you can do a number one contender's match with The Ascension vs. The New Day vs. Miz & Mizdow. That's all I got it's realistic outlooks as to what can happen on the undercard for FastLane.

Follow Josh Lopez on Twitter @VoiceOfTruth94

Enjoy Monday Night Raw everybody

Like what you read make sure to check out my wrestling radio show the Pro Wrestling Experience every Wednesday from 10am-1pm CT on Chicagolandsportsradio.com

Raw Talking Points For Christmas Edition of Raw

Raw had its typical holiday offering last night. There wasn’t a ton of significant things as it basically just continued a number of existing feuds. The typical diva’s Christmas costume 6-women tag match. We had the new holiday tradition of the Miracle on 34th Street fight. Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt destroyed many Christmas themed items. Hulk Hogan was the host of Raw dressed up like Santa and he was his typical boring self. If you’re into Hogan, you probably found it fun. If you have had enough of Hogan this was evidence of why you do. Still we found some talking points from this holiday for the most part throwaway Raw show.

1. Adam Rose Turns Heel on the Bunny: After a loss to R-Truth the Bunny still in his neck brace, after a couple attacks from Kane in the past week, he goes to comfort Rose after the match. Rose put a real serious beat down on the bunny. He would take off the Bunny’s neck brace and would continue the beating after the Bunny tried to escape to the outside. The highlight of the segment was the crowd chanting for Rose to throw the Bunny into the guardrail one more time. The crowd was not having any sympathy for Bunny, which was the goal of the segment. So Adam Rose is suppose to be a heel but at least on this night in Minnesota he was a face to this crowd.

2. Fandango Gets a Win: This was more about where Jack Swagger is in terms of this company. The new and improved Fandango is not exactly setting the world on fire. Swagger had almost all the offensive moves until the end. Fandango landed some kicks, went to his top rope leg drop, and actually got the win. Poor Jack Swagger has fallen down since his resurgence with his original feud with Rusev.

3. The Night for The Shield: Rollins and Cena kicked off the show and Rollins after a win last week in a cage match with the help of Brock Lesnar, Cena natural gets his win back this week after Hogan made the match for his good buddy John Cena. Roman Reigns was paired with the Big Show and was booked terrible only able to get a count out win after hitting Big Show with a superman punch over the announce table. Big Show really seems to have little interest in helping Reigns get over. Dean Ambrose meantime in the Main Event once again losses to Bray Wyatt in your typical Christmas Street fight. Overall, it was not a great night for the former members of the Shield.

4. WWE Announcers Continue To Fail: I could bring up many examples of why this is true every single week but I have a specific example this week. Natalya was in a match with Brie and she had Nikki in her corner. During the entire match, Tyson was wearing a Nikki Bella hat and there was zero reference to it the entire match. Even in the post match where Natalya pushes Nikki off the apron and notices the hat Tyson was wearing after that. She takes it off and throws it away. Announcers made zero reference to this so if you missed it can’t blame you.

5. Piper’s Pit Isn’t What It Use To Be: It was kind of a pathetic attempt at nostalgia with Roddy Piper showing up and his guest was Rusev. Piper mispronounced his name and predictably introduced Ryback who had a bow on him no less and he attempted to attack Rusev but he was able to escape. Ryback was over with Minnesota crowd so it looks like the C.M Punk comments have not affected Ryback and his face push of late. Seeing Piper and Hogan at their age is more sad and pathetic than any sort of nostalgic feel good moment.

The match quality on this show was pretty good overall but some questionable booking and little plot advancement. The biggest note was Rose heeling on Bunny and I am not even kidding about that. I didn’t hate this show but if I had missed it, I can’t say that much happened I needed to see. 

10 Canadians We're Thankful For

It is Canadian Thanksgiving so instead of our normal Raw preview I share with all of you my 10 wrestlers that I am thankful for in pro wrestling that are from my country of Canada. There have been many great Canadian's over the years in wrestling. We are keeping this list light and fun so you will not be seeing any Canadian Cripplers on this list. What you will see is a group of talented people that share the same flag and homeland and have had a major impact on wrestling as a whole.

Honorable mention goes out to Canadian Football League that allowed some wrestlers to stay employed in football for years and earn a living. While showing others that football was not their calling like Roman Reigns and The Rock. Many other names like Brian Pillman, Lex Luger and countless others have called the CFL home before hitting a squared circle.

So here is my list of great Canadians to be thankful for and it is only based on my personal opinion and nothing else. Not ranking on ability or looks although you have to admit Trish Stratus does look good in red and white. So with that said here we go with the list.


1. Kevin Steen
2. Trish Stratus
3. Owen Hart
4. Sami Zayn
5. Chris Jericho
6. Edge
7. Bret Hart
8. Tyler Breeze
9. Tyson Kidd
10. Christian

I am sure many will debate the order and it is not based on accomplishments. I just wanted a mix of the past present and future. I am not a huge Bret Hart fan to be honest. I also don't like hockey so Canadians might not all fit your stereotypes to the letter. Who is your top 5 Canadians in wrestling let us know @Condoonthemoon. Send them to us and give us a follow there.

To all my fellow Canadians enjoy the holiday and if your having turkey it will make a boring episode of Raw easier to fall asleep too. 

Raw Recap: Even The Rock Can't Wash Away The Bad Of Raw As A Whole

Raw was dragging along with no end in sight when out of the blue hell came The Rock. He came out and interrupted a Rusev Promo. In reality it was much of the same stuff we are used to from over the years. In the previous two hours aside from some nice Dean Ambrose stuff this was a train wreck horrible show in the making. The pure surprise that The Rock was there stunned everyone. This was one appearance that no one seemed to have caught wind of prior too it happening. Post-facto people say The Rock had legitimate business aside from the WWE in New York. If it was a last minute thing it was a brilliant call. It isn’t that anything the Rock did was all that unique. It was just the presence of The Rock that seemed to excite everyone. Rock threw some punches and cleared the Ring of Rusev after about 10 minutes of promo ripping on both Rusev and Lana in classic Rock fashion.

Dean Ambose meantime distanced himself from John Cena in this episode by the end of it leaving him lying in the ring after a DDT. This was after it was announced at the end of the show that he would be facing John Cena in a one on one match for the right to face Seth Rollins in a Hell in the Cell match at the pay-per-view earlier on that pay-per-view. Night started with the two being booked in a handicap match after a failed attempt by both to get their hands on Seth Rollins. Later on Ambrose would call Cena out to the ring to attempt to clear the air between the two. Instead Ambrose would bail for Coney Island to get a hotdog. He would through the magic of television return with a hot dog cart and attack Kane, Orton and Rollins. Before being informed by The Authority that he would have to face Cena and this led to him taking out  Cena to close the show.

Aside from a rare appearance by Tyson Kidd in a match on Raw against Jack Swagger there was not much to remember in a positive way. Lots of forgettable stuff was a part of this show, which included a match with bull taking on a gator. Well people dressed as a bull and a gator it wasn’t like an animal planet special. We saw two old women make fools of themselves. Kathie Lee was one of those old women and earlier in the day tweeted about being happy to be on Smackdown later tonight. Worse yet she slammed the product in her book talking bad of the Bushwackers and Rick Rude as the folks at Wrestlezone dug up from her 1992 book. Next week we are getting some woman from the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Never heard of her and this is the type of stars the WWE is booking these days. The Rock who is a Hollywood “A-list” celebrity is on a show that is now offering guests that would be lucky to be on the “C-list” in Hollywood.

We had pointless tag matches that mean nothing, the Bella feud that never ends and a tag-team match that followed the theme of the night to walk out on your partner. A.J Lee who teamed with Emma thought better of it during the match and decided to bail.

Dean Ambrose and The Rock were the only things worth watching on this three hour show and if you add up the time they were on the screen that adds up to maybe at best 30 minutes of entertainment for your 3 hour investment of time.

Oh and that big Roman Reigns interview to update us on his status lasted less than a minute. Sam Roberts provided a longer and more insightful interview with Reigns on YouTube. As a life long fan of the product these are some dark times for Monday Night Raw. You had two segments that easily qualify for worst of the year and make a strong case to be on the list of all-time worst segments in history.

I am not sure as entertaining as Dean Ambrose and The Rock can be that makes up for that. WWE is in a horrible state at the moment and nothing seems to be able to save it other than band-aid solutions like bringing back stars from when wrestling was entertaining and people were invested in the product. That might pop a rating for the show to boost the overall rating, but it isn’t solving the ultimate issue with the show as a whole. While Raw was happening Daniel Bryan the guy this company was so afraid to get behind was getting a crowd full of Giants fans to chant YES!  It didn’t help the Giants who lost to the Nationals but it shows just how much the WWE needs someone like Bryan back in fold to some degree.

Yes there have been injuries and a lot of curve balls thrown the WWE’s way but there is a fundamental disconnect with WWE and its audience on what they find entertaining. The Rock who I imagine had no script at all basically ad-libed a segment better than stuff the WWE creative team has come up with in years. Ambrose at least gives the appearance that he is one that goes off the script as well and people love him right now. Perhaps it is time to give some freedom to talent and let them have a try at being entertaining. Clearly what is making the final script of Raw isn’t cutting the mustard, relish or whatever else Dean Ambrose was throwing on people.

Rumors Already Surfacing For Next NXT Special

Seems the next NXT special is already taking shape with the main event expected to be Sami Zayn challenging Adrian Neville for the NXT title in a one on one match.

Both Zayn and Neville were front and center at an event for the WWE 2K15 game as they will be characters in the game along with former NXT alumni like Bo Dallas, Rusev and Bray Wyatt. Cory Graves is also said to be in the game as well but his career has been in much doubt with concussion problems and has not been seen in NXT in many months. Below are some links to interviews with various talents from that 2K15 event.




Brian Fritz with Sami Zayn
Sam Roberts with Sami Zayn
Brian Fritz with Adrian Neville
Sam Roberts with Bo Dallas
Brian Fritz with Bo Dallas 
Brian Fritz with Bill DeMott 


In addition to that the Lucha Dragons the new Tag-Team Champs will defend against favorites of NXT crowd the Vaudevillians in addition we will see Hideo Itami and Finn Balor better known as Kenta and Prince Devitt have a tag-team match with the Ascension. The two teams did face off at the television tapings recently in Devitt's debut so this would be a re-match of that encounter.

What still is up in the air is if Kevin Steen will be on this show with a set of T.V tapings between now and the proposed early December 11th date for the NXT special event. Steen has yet to debut and he like the other two is expected to have his name altered as well. Adam Cole a recent guest on our podcast spoke about his great relationship with Steen and his belief in the success he will have as part of the WWE. Cole himself has been talked about as perhaps going to NXT come the end of his current contract with ROH. In talking with Cole he just would state that you never know what the future would hold for him going forward. Cole was recently ranked number 9 in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated top 500 wrestlers. A list that saw WWE have the top 3 ranking stars with John Cena at 3, Randy Orton at 2 and Daniel Bryan topping the list.

Steen was seen in photos prior to the 2k15 event looking in tremendous shape and that was the one issue his detractors had about him being a success in the WWE. Kevin while still a large guy has certainly come a long way in the last year in getting into better shape and that has increased since coming into the WWE fold at the end of August.

Baron Corbin has recently debuted and is making waves the competition level and just level of talent in general at NXT is growing by leaps and bounds. Guys like Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze and Adrian Neville have been touring on various WWE house show loops. This in addition to the surprise appearance of those three along with Tyson Kidd on Raw a few weeks back. Kidd is being used currently as part of the angle with his wife and Summer Rae on the main roster. Rumors of some sort of love triangle being at least teased.

So, NXT is on the rise and once Steen officially joins the fold it should lead to some interesting potential match-ups going forward depending on how long guys like Zayn, Breeze and Neville remain on the roster.

You can follow us on Twitter @Condoonthemoon for all our latest on the world of pro wrestling.

NXT Takeover 2: Post Show Podcast

We did not have a Hangin on the Moon today think all our audio issues are solved but decided to do an NXT Takeover post game show with myself and Josh Lopez. We break down the card and share our thoughts as well as have a couple interesting sidebar conversations along the way. So sit back and enjoy as we bring a little NXT into your life.


Still will have the regular podcast on later tonight as always with Chris Walder talking all the rest of the wrestling news of the week. Walder might give his two cents on Takeover 2 as well so make sure to come back and listen to that.

NXT Takeover 2: A New NXT Champion To Be Crowned?

 NXT is set to have there third special event on Thursday night on the WWE Network. On paper, this card does not live up to previous two. We will have the introduction of Kenta to NXT officially scheduled but also have Prince Devitt and Kevin Steen now as part of the mix at the performance center so who knows if we see them as well? We did see the participants in main event on Raw this past Monday. They seemed to get over pretty well with both the live audience and the viewing audience. Ole chants rang out on Raw for Sami Zayn and for once, the commentators did a great job of getting over all four guys in the match.

Singles Match
Mojo Rawley vs. Bull Dempsey

I have no interest in this match at all. Mojo Rawley is a classic example of what the WWE thinks will draw compared to what the audience actually wants. Which is not Mojo with his lack of experience in the ring combined with his over enthusiastic character makes him annoying as hell to most and me. While Bull Dempsey is old school, wrestling gimmick is not a hit with me either. Some thought this gimmick would be great for Kevin Steen. It is a death sentence and nothing is great about it. Someone has to win the match that should be a boring yawn festival so I will go with Bull by default.


Hair vs. Hair Match
Enzo Amore vs. Sylvester LeFort

Has a babyface ever lost a haircut match in the history of wrestling? If they did, it was terrible booking of the highest order. Still despite this being, a very predictable outcome of this still should be a fun match. It is a big match for Enzo who has been out with injury for a long period and this is the first big match since his return from injury to his leg. LeFort knows about injuries himself; he as a result was booked as a manger in NXT when he debuted.  Both have a lot to gain from a high profile match like this and it should be good. Enzo Amore will win but it will be all about the journey and post match haircut that makes or breaks this contest. 


NXT Tag Team Championship Match
The Ascension (c) vs. Kalisto & Sin Cara

We saw Kalisto with a different partner go against this team of The Ascension as he teams with Sin Cara who also is new under his mask from the original. The Ascension has long been rumoured to heading to the main roster. They did pop up this week on WWE Main Event so maybe finally they are off to the main roster. Does this mean that automatically means they will drop the titles? It could but I would not call it a lock at all at this point. I have never been a fan of The Ascension. They have size and an entrance as well as the support of the great NXT fans. Still for me, I see them as a team destined to flop on the main roster. I think they will retain the titles regardless of their status in terms of the main roster.
 

NXT Women’s Championship Match
Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley

Charlotte Flair was able to capture the NXT Women’s Champion in a match with Natalya that many are calling one of the best women’s matches in years. Bayley up until getting this title opportunity was booked as a far less serious character that seemed to be geared at kids. She was a star struck fan girl but in the last month or so has been down played and she has been more serious in her actions. The reason for the change is to build her as serious contender.  Some think Charlotte is going to be rushed to the main roster based on her fast improvement but also to give her father something to do on the main roster. Who knows if this is true but if it is they have set a precedent that would suggest she should lose if moving up to the main roster. Will see what happens but both women will have a huge mountain to climb to live up to Charlotte’s last match. I think Bayley is going go over here but not sure, if that is a good move to make. 

NXT Championship Match
Adrian Neville (c) vs. Sami Zayn vs. Tyler Breeze vs. Tyson Kidd

Let’s start by saying this is easily the best match on the show with some of the best talent on the NXT roster currently. I also think you could make a compelling argument for all three challengers to win this match. I also feel that as a fan I am ready to see a change of this title and have methods to protect my baby face current champion. Sami Zayn has been chasing the title for a long time and has been the MVP performer on NXT since he arrived. The four-way gives him a way to win without turning his character. Tyson Kidd is doing a great job with his NXT heel run. He could certainly make a great champion. My choice to win this contest is however, Tyler Breeze who I think is deserving and is the best fit for the role. Breeze likely is not coming to the WWE roster with his current gimmick or at least should not. It is two similar to what The Miz is currently doing. I think he can really learn from a run as a heel champion as well. I still think regardless the title needs to change. We will see if in fact we get a new NXT champion on Thursday. How people view this show will be largely be based on this match. Nothing else on the card has a chance to challenge this match on paper for match of the night.

I think this will be the greatest challenge in terms of one of these shows so far. The first two have created quite a short but great legacy to live up to for NXT roster. This show still can be very entertaining it is just how great the other two shows have been that makes the challenge for this show to live up to it. Triple H is extremely proud of what he has created with the NXT brand and Performance Center and rightfully so.

Our friends at Between the Ropes sat in on Paul Lesveque's conference call to promote tomorrow's event.   

 

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